Musings from Dennis #277. Reading recently about how Louis Vuitton was awarded more than half a million dollars in damages from a Singapore‑based Instagram seller accused of repeatedly peddling counterfeit luxury goods brought back vivid memories of my own “Disney adventures” working on IP enforcement on the ground.
I still remember accompanying the police on raids in
Singapore’s Chinatown, where stalls were selling counterfeit Mickey Mouse
Chinese New Year decorations. One vendor confronted me (I was the only one in
office wear) and said, “All you needed to do was tell us the items were fake!
We would have removed them.” (Would you? I remember thinking.)
At another incident, my colleague Claryss was involved in
another raid at Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, this time targeting
counterfeit Disney school supplies - stationery and schoolbags. In the middle of
the operation, she called me and said calmly, “Dennis, we’re removing the
items, but there are men standing outside, just waiting quietly. Our legal rep
says they belong to the gang protecting this shop.” It was frightening even
to hear that, let alone imagine the situation on the ground. Thankfully, nothing
happened. Once the goods were loaded onto the lorry, everyone left safely.
In both markets, we had taken precautions. We never drove to
the locations. We arrived by public transport. When the raids concluded, we
walked away separately, splitting into smaller groups and leaving quickly by
taxi or cab. How effective were these measures? That depended entirely on the
market we were operating in - and I shall not comment further!
